I didn't notice them if they did. To be fair I was heavily distracted by the W80. I kept on going back to them so many times over the two days it became a standard joke between me and the exhibitor lol
CanJam London 2017 Impressions Thread (July 15-16, 2017)
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Kramer01
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Could it be that Yggy + Ragnarok is causing the impression of a drier sound. I auditioned one paired with a Violectric V281 and it produces a slightly warm sound.
As good as the GSx MkII is it works best with dynamic driver headphones like Sennheiser or Focal it simply doesn't have the power to make a Susvara or the LCD-4 "sing".
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does someone know where I can purchase the Sennheiser HE1 demo disk ? It is a 2 CD set with great test music...
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Sunday was a great day. I happened to meet @Duncan at the train station so the headphone talk started early!
First stop for me was the Rupert Neve stand. Very simple setup, a solitary amp, a pono player and a set of focal utopias. I'm very familiar with the pono player sound but was a first time listen to both the amp and the utopia. Spent a fair amount of time lost in the resulting musical delivery. Enjoyed that a lot. The build quality of the amp was much better than it looks in pictures (to me at least), very well finished.
I loved the look of these Meter headphones, was a little disappointed that the vu meters were active only when active noise cancellation (anc) was engaged. Really great design though. Sound was meaty and fun, sounded best with the anc swirched on.
Another item on the meter table was this speaker setup, again with the awesome vu meter, brilliant design (terrible photo though)
Spent a fair amount of time at the Sony booth. Very well put together gear and a some really knowledgeable and passionate staff who clearly love their products. Pictured below wm1z dap and zh1es amp.
Trev - @Takeanidea - seemed to enjoy it also!
The mightily expensive Shangrila. Nice to see at a regular stand, queues were minimal too. Sounded great, but heard better at the show.
Speaking of hearing better, this sounded lovely, although I preferred the square stax (unsure of the model) to th sr-009 by a large margin.
Thanks to all involved in organising, was a great event, cheers.
First stop for me was the Rupert Neve stand. Very simple setup, a solitary amp, a pono player and a set of focal utopias. I'm very familiar with the pono player sound but was a first time listen to both the amp and the utopia. Spent a fair amount of time lost in the resulting musical delivery. Enjoyed that a lot. The build quality of the amp was much better than it looks in pictures (to me at least), very well finished.
I loved the look of these Meter headphones, was a little disappointed that the vu meters were active only when active noise cancellation (anc) was engaged. Really great design though. Sound was meaty and fun, sounded best with the anc swirched on.
Another item on the meter table was this speaker setup, again with the awesome vu meter, brilliant design (terrible photo though)
Spent a fair amount of time at the Sony booth. Very well put together gear and a some really knowledgeable and passionate staff who clearly love their products. Pictured below wm1z dap and zh1es amp.
Trev - @Takeanidea - seemed to enjoy it also!
The mightily expensive Shangrila. Nice to see at a regular stand, queues were minimal too. Sounded great, but heard better at the show.
Speaking of hearing better, this sounded lovely, although I preferred the square stax (unsure of the model) to th sr-009 by a large margin.
Thanks to all involved in organising, was a great event, cheers.
Attachments
Mm...I find my KSE quite boring next to my Fourte. Just not enough in the low end (anemic and EQing does not help). I guess my taste is shifting from flat/reference to something more fun. But I do agree with detail retrieval. It is an excellent performer. Overall, I can understand why you fell for the KSE 1500. It is one of the best Shure products.
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Will you say that the Fourte complement well your SHURE or... it replace 100% your SHURE ? Also, did you tried the U18, which I felt more accurate (may be less fun, but closer to the real recording) ?
Mm...more complementary than competition. They are just from different worlds. I was able to briefly audition the U18 but it was too brief to make any impression (last hour of the last day of CanJam Singapore 2017; exhibitors were packing their stuff). I agree with your assessment that the Fourte has a more fun tuning.
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Thanks a lot to the organisers, exhibitors and everyone else involved for another great show!
I remember when I started in this hobby, the complete lack of demo opportunities meant it was blind buying.
The local postman hated me since the amount of buying & returning was a massive pain!
But these past few years with things like CanJam, problem solved.
Interesting to read impressions of fellow attendees especially since a lot of them mirror my own.
Starting with the higher priced ones first, the Hifiman Shangri-La.
Quite a let down to be honest, since it sounded way too bright and grating.
I was listening to my own stuff (via USB) and checked the connections/foobar to see if something was wrong.
I'm not the kind who shy's away from bright headphones either, but this was too much for me.
Sennheiser HE1 sounded simply awesome and though it's a distant memory, better than their HE90.
I listened to this using my own CD, which I used at a HE90 demo a few years back.
Not a long enough demo to write detailed impressions (and I got distracted by how pressing volume up on the heavy remote made the dial turn).
Like many who listen to it say; it's the best headphone setup I've heard.
Stax SR-009/BHSE and the LCD4/Susvara/GSXII was a great table!
The Stax sounded really good as expected (competitive to the HE1 probably), but like Kramer01 said above the Audeze and Hifiman probably didn't have the best amp pairing.
For example, the LCD4 sounded a little slow and hidden compared to other setups I've heard.
The Stax 009 I heard on a few different setups at the show and it always sounded terrific.
HD800S and HDV820 were a very good match. If this amp were priced lower, might have considered it for my pair.
Zeus XR sounded better than Empire Ears other IEM's but I expected a little more.
Soundstage height/depth was good as was the overall balance (from the middle setting). Tone and timbre was well done as well, though in separation and dynamics it was lacking a little.
Prices are crazy in headphone land nowadays, so I can see some people satisfied with this earphone at that price.
Ultrasone edition 8 ex sounded off (like a large hole in the mids), but their signature pro remains as one of my favourite closed backs.
Their signature studio was decent, strongly isolating and not being too bright either. Good sound overall, though less natural and sophisticated than the Sig Pro.
I wish I had more time with the Ultrasone NAOS (chewing gum sized dac/amp). I heard my cosmic ears CIEM soundstage increase quite a bit from the samsung galaxy s7.
Might be good this dac, though pricing at the audioquest black level would have been better maybe.
Beyerdynamic Xelento had massive yet clean bass but didn't impress me that much beyond that. A bit too V shaped for me.
Build quality left a lot to be desired unfortunately - cable connector disconnected itself leaving the housing suspended in my ear. For a second I thought I broke it!
But no, it looked like a weak connection meaning it can happen again.
The T5p v2 sounded better than the Sony Z1R to me, being more controlled and balanced yet maintaining that large presentation.
Both were better than the AKG K872 which for me was bashful and less mature than the K550v2
Mr Speakers Aeon I enjoyed quite a lot.
Offered a really good comparison to my SigPro's.
If it sticks around for a bit, might buy one (MrSpeakers like changing/updating things quickly!)
Feliks audio's amps were impressive.
I thought I was listening to a multi thousand pound piece of equipment and was shocked when he revealed the price (like £600 or something)
Overall a great exhibition in a great location, allowing ample opportunity to demo a massive range of equipment.
No one expected you to buy anything either which is a big advantage compared to in-store demo's
My main regret this time was not being able to make it on Saturday as well.
Next time I'll sure make it both days!
I remember when I started in this hobby, the complete lack of demo opportunities meant it was blind buying.
The local postman hated me since the amount of buying & returning was a massive pain!
But these past few years with things like CanJam, problem solved.
Interesting to read impressions of fellow attendees especially since a lot of them mirror my own.
Starting with the higher priced ones first, the Hifiman Shangri-La.
Quite a let down to be honest, since it sounded way too bright and grating.
I was listening to my own stuff (via USB) and checked the connections/foobar to see if something was wrong.
I'm not the kind who shy's away from bright headphones either, but this was too much for me.
Sennheiser HE1 sounded simply awesome and though it's a distant memory, better than their HE90.
I listened to this using my own CD, which I used at a HE90 demo a few years back.
Not a long enough demo to write detailed impressions (and I got distracted by how pressing volume up on the heavy remote made the dial turn).
Like many who listen to it say; it's the best headphone setup I've heard.
Stax SR-009/BHSE and the LCD4/Susvara/GSXII was a great table!
The Stax sounded really good as expected (competitive to the HE1 probably), but like Kramer01 said above the Audeze and Hifiman probably didn't have the best amp pairing.
For example, the LCD4 sounded a little slow and hidden compared to other setups I've heard.
The Stax 009 I heard on a few different setups at the show and it always sounded terrific.
HD800S and HDV820 were a very good match. If this amp were priced lower, might have considered it for my pair.
Zeus XR sounded better than Empire Ears other IEM's but I expected a little more.
Soundstage height/depth was good as was the overall balance (from the middle setting). Tone and timbre was well done as well, though in separation and dynamics it was lacking a little.
Prices are crazy in headphone land nowadays, so I can see some people satisfied with this earphone at that price.
Ultrasone edition 8 ex sounded off (like a large hole in the mids), but their signature pro remains as one of my favourite closed backs.
Their signature studio was decent, strongly isolating and not being too bright either. Good sound overall, though less natural and sophisticated than the Sig Pro.
I wish I had more time with the Ultrasone NAOS (chewing gum sized dac/amp). I heard my cosmic ears CIEM soundstage increase quite a bit from the samsung galaxy s7.
Might be good this dac, though pricing at the audioquest black level would have been better maybe.
Beyerdynamic Xelento had massive yet clean bass but didn't impress me that much beyond that. A bit too V shaped for me.
Build quality left a lot to be desired unfortunately - cable connector disconnected itself leaving the housing suspended in my ear. For a second I thought I broke it!
But no, it looked like a weak connection meaning it can happen again.
The T5p v2 sounded better than the Sony Z1R to me, being more controlled and balanced yet maintaining that large presentation.
Both were better than the AKG K872 which for me was bashful and less mature than the K550v2
Mr Speakers Aeon I enjoyed quite a lot.
Offered a really good comparison to my SigPro's.
If it sticks around for a bit, might buy one (MrSpeakers like changing/updating things quickly!)
Feliks audio's amps were impressive.
I thought I was listening to a multi thousand pound piece of equipment and was shocked when he revealed the price (like £600 or something)
Overall a great exhibition in a great location, allowing ample opportunity to demo a massive range of equipment.
No one expected you to buy anything either which is a big advantage compared to in-store demo's
My main regret this time was not being able to make it on Saturday as well.
Next time I'll sure make it both days!
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The cables that u listened to are also available with the bass pots as well. However, those 2 cables are also described to be on the warmer side of the spectrum
Hello Mates. Any new impressions with the Abyss Diana? Since they made it bigger and put in bigger drivers.
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Did anyone happen to catch the name of the main guy in the Sennheiser stand?
I'm trying to follow on something with him (the guy with the glasses).
J
I'm trying to follow on something with him (the guy with the glasses).
J
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Are you referring to Axel Grell?
Speaking of the sennheiser stand, the representative made me laugh.
I had a quick listen to the HDV820 and asked him when it will be released.
He looked at me like I I was living the last years under a rock and said that it released last week!
I was very surprised as I have not seen any reviews etc. and when I emailed sennheiser, I was told that the HDV820 is actually going to be released later this year around September/ October.
The email apologised for the misinformation given to me by the rep
I had a quick listen to the HDV820 and asked him when it will be released.
He looked at me like I I was living the last years under a rock and said that it released last week!
I was very surprised as I have not seen any reviews etc. and when I emailed sennheiser, I was told that the HDV820 is actually going to be released later this year around September/ October.
The email apologised for the misinformation given to me by the rep
Brief Impressions Canjam London 2017
This year’s Canjam London was my second, and seemed to be a resounding success. An impressive list of manufacturers signed up, which inspired a large crowd to show up. It was pleasantly busy, without feeling crowded.
Smyth Realiser
So I started Saturday off with what, in my opinion, was the highlight of the show: the Smyth Realiser. The Realiser required advanced sign-up, as the technology needs to be calibrated as well as experienced in a secluded room. The Realiser is a fairly new technology designed to recreate the spatial sound coming from a surround sound speaker setup in a particular room. What this basically means, is that the technology allows you to experience sound in a headphone, almost identically as if it were coming from speakers all around and above you. A 3D listening experience if you will, that accomplishes this with an almost scary accuracy. To achieve this experience, the session begins with the insertion of two microphones in the ears. Next, test tones are produced from the speakers to the front and the side, followed by similar measurements with the headphone on.
The result is nothing short of spectacular. After calibration, the tones produced in the headphone (a Stax I believe) seem to come from the speakers you can visually see around you. It’s a fully 3D experience, which mimics the tones actually being produced by the speakers, even when coming from above and behind you. When I heard the tones in the headphones, even fully knowing they where being produced in the headphone, I needed to regularly check whether they weren’t actually coming from the speakers – it works that well. Even when you move your head, the sound cues continuously come from the same direction, as a sensor tracks the motion of your head. While the technology’s main application seems to be geared more towards film, gaming, and virtual reality, the realistic and precise recreation was a pure delight for audio enthusiasts. It provides a whole new meaning to the definition of soundstage, especially in terms of external realism.
IEMS
Over the last year, interesting new technologies have emerged for iems. Shure’s KSE1500 has been around for a while, but more recently Audeze added a lineup of planar iems, while 64 Audio introduced TIA technology in their flagships. Starting off with the Audeze i4, an impressive all-rounder that seemed to do a lot right. Its bass is not only punchy with a very nice quantity leaning towards the fun side of things, the mid-bass is highly resolved as well. Truly a quality bass, both in terms of fun and performance. While its midrange and vocals were lightly warm, smooth, and pleasing, the focus of its upper mids seemed geared towards clarity. The treble in turn displayed an extraordinary performance, sounding articulate, detailed, and very quick – an ethereal feel, that felt like it was offering something different than the traditional BA or DD designs. It had a nice touch of sparkle, and sounded very transparent. In addition, its stage felt spacious in all directions, and its separation was excellent. There was a nice body to the sound, without sounding overly thick. As one remark, the tuning of the upper mids gave me the feeling Audeze was making too hard an effort to position it as a neutral tuning, rather than going for a natural signature in line with their house sound. I would have preferred to see if the upper mids were just slightly warmer, to benefit the coherency of the signature. However, as a whole package, the Audeze i4 is an impressive and unique addition to the upper tier iems, combining both a neutral and fun signature with very special treble.
Much like the i4, 64 Audio’s TIA Fourte has a unique presentation, which sets it aside from the herd. Its dynamic driven bass bares close resemblance to that of two other top tier dynamic drivers, the RE2000 and Dita Dream. A nice rounded feel, but tight, punchy, and a slight decay. Even so, its quantity was fairly neutral. But the Fourte’s speciality is undoubtedly its stage, and the way it creates its air and space. This is partially due to its open TIA drivers, but also its midrange tuning. By creating a leaner body of vocals, the open and three-dimensional stage feels especially large. In addition, the Fourte’s midrange and treble both sound fast, and highly resolved. The result is a unique listening experience, with excellent separation and definition. The Fourte seems to pair better with the WM1Z than my AK, despite a trade-off of performance for a more even presentation in terms of note and vocal size. When compared to the A18, the A18 has larger bass quantity, and a quicker decay. The A18’s stage is wider, although the Fourte’s is deeper, and accordingly more three-dimensional. In addition, the A18 has more body in its midrange, with more forward and larger vocals. While both have excellent resolution, I would give the edge to the Fourte. In sum, the Fourte provides a more unique, hi-fi experience due to its speed, resolution and stage; nevertheless, some might find the A18’s signature more engaging due to its bass and midrange.
In addition, I briefly tested the KSE1500. Shure’s electrostat driver provided possibly the best sub-bass I have heard so far in an iem, being incredibly precise and well-extended, really a bass you can sense driving the rhythm in the background, without ever becoming overpowering. Even so, its overall quantity is fairly neutral, with an emphasis on sub-bass rather than mid-bass. It’s a tight and controlled bass, resulting in a cleaner stage. However, as a result, the signature isn’t particularly warm, although its timbre was nevertheless fairly accurate. The midrange itself is tuned with a 3 KHz bump, which seems to be a close reflection of the ideal Harmon curve. By specifically bumping the 3 KHz range, it creates a slightly forward but leaner vocal presentation. Personally, I prefer a wider 2-3 KHz bump, resulting in a larger, denser, and what I personally consider, a more engaging vocal reproduction; a tuning that many ‘traditional’ BA flagships opt for. But one might argue that this is preference, shaped by my personal reference points.
Dunu has established their name by bringing quality sound to a wide audience due to their affordable pricing, and have recently started looking upwards. The DN-2000j provided a high level of detail with a brighter tuning, but their new 3+1 hybrid flagship DK-3001 provides a more serious tuning with nice body in its sound and a fairly neutral signature, as well as a bodied bass down below from its single dynamic driver. The DN-2002 on the other hand is their smoother offering in a 2+2 hybrid configuration, which provides a warmer sound at the cost of some of its transparency and detail compared to the DK-3001.
Westone’s new flagship ciem, the ES80, is a precise monitor that creates a clean and highly resolved sound by means of its excellent top-end extension, combined with a smooth and warm albeit somewhat leaner sound. Westone has been always known for their warm and smooth house sound, so I was equally curious to their universal flagship, the W80 that uses similar drivers. The W80 has a beautiful vocal reproduction, full-bodied with a pleasing warm tone. In addition, its low-end provides a nice bit of power and warmth to the signature. Even so, the upper midrange and treble is surprisingly clear and closer to neutral, rather than being overpowered by the warmth of the bass. While the W80 has an easy-going signature, the upper mid tuning gives the W80 a nice musical touch, and I found it quite enjoyable.
Empire Ears brought along a few prototypes, which were variations of a similar driver configuration. The prototype seemed to be tuned with a traditional 1-3 KHz bump in its midrange, providing Empire Ears’ trademark vocal performance reminiscent of Zeus-XIV. Vocals sounded clear with good transparency, while a lift in its treble provided a touch of sparkle, as well as an overall fairly neutral tuning in terms of tone. However, these particular models differentiated themselves from the previous Empire Ears’ lineup by means of their powerful and full-bodied bass. As a result, the prototype combined a versatile signature, with an engaging low-end. Between the two models, one sounded more neutral and clear, while the other seemed a bit warmer and smoother.
Finally, the Beyerdynamic Xelento was a nice surprise as a single dynamic driver combining a natural signature with nice dynamic driven bass. While its bass was punchy with a very nice quantity, the bass never overpowered the signature. The midrange was warm, and seemed to be tuned with an upper mid dip followed by a lower treble dip. It’s a tuning that provides a nice touch of clarity and sparkle, yet with a natural sound. It kind of reminded me of a DD version of Lime Ears Aether. A nice option for a solid all-rounder in this price range, that’s very easy to listen to.
SOURCES
Quite frankly, I found the sources I listened to a bit disappointing. Nothing wrong with their performance or value, but the Shanling M5, QPR2, and Fiio X7II all seem to prioritize clarity first, with varying degrees of (light) warmth in the midrange, but mostly clear-sounding upper midranges, and variations of brightness in their treble. While none sounded bright or harsh by any means, there was a general trend of opting for a more neutral sound in favor of timbre and naturalness. Of those daps, iBasso’s DX200 impressed me most. While it was still tuned with a predominantly neutral signature, it had the most coherent signature to my ears, with a signature that simply worked very well together. There was a harmonious tone throughout the mids and treble, and what it did good, it did very well. Despite the sound having good body, the stage was very clean, and its separation good. A solid offering in its price range, providing a neutral but musical signature with good performance.
And as an avid AK fan, my main interest went out to the new A&K Ultima SS - a beautiful player to behold, while being fast and responsive. The AK380 has long held the perfect balance between timbre and performance, combined with a beautiful large stage. The new Ultima improves in performance, with greater resolution and transparency, as well as a more powerful bass. In addition, the midrange has a good deal more body and forwardness, creating an overall fuller sound, similar to my own RW modified unit. In addition, there is a good deal of depth in its stage, and both its separation and imaging seemed precise. However, the Ultima SS also seemed to follow the trend of clarity over timbre, while there seemed to be a trace of incoherency in the upper mids. The Ultima offers top tier performance one might expect, but I wasn’t convinced the improved performance outweighed the naturalness and tone of my own. Possibly, their Copper version will provide an alternative sound.
I pondered briefly over this general trend, and the only right conclusion seemed that apparently both manufacturers and consumers seemed to prefer this type of tuning. A logic that seemed to be countered by the success of Chord’s Mojo, which was tuned with a warmer and thicker sound. Of course, it might just have been my limited sample, and I am spoiled with my own daps. I was however positively surprised by two dac/amp systems. The first being a newly developed amp that will soon launch on Indiegogo: the Kuos RealAmp. The amp was still in prototype phase, but pictures projecting its upcoming look revealed it will likely turn out to be a beauty. Most importantly, its tone was very pleasing, what I would describe as ‘beautifully neutral’. Relatively neutral, but lightly warm and smooth, as well a musical touch in its upper mids. A coherent signature that was just very easy to listen to, and seemed to provide a versatile signature that I could see more people liking than disliking. While its stage wasn’t particularly wide, it added a nice amount of depth, even to monitors that seemed to lack depth in the first place. So while the stage leaned towards intimate, it nevertheless had a three-dimensional feel due to its depth and layering ability.
But the greatest surprise of the show for me, was the Chord Hugo 2. The original Hugo was widely praised, although some people felt its signature was slightly too neutral, and somewhat void of warmth. For some people it could feel a bit sterile, for instance when compared to the warmer Mojo. While Chord kept the excellent technical performance in terms of its three-dimensional stage, resolution, and transparency, they added just a touch of warmth to its signature. Mind you, the Hugo 2 isn’t warm enough to be predominantly classified as such; but the tuning adds an essential smoothness and musicality to the sound. Based on the brief session its signature seemed comparable to Kuos RealAmp, although they differed in stage and performance. But again, what I would describe as ‘beautifully neutral’: a relatively neutral tone and clean sound, yet with an overall smooth and musical signature. The quality ran throughout its presentation, from its resolved mid-bass, to the coherent midrange, and up to its refined treble presentation – a worthy alternative to my warmer Sony and AK. I went to the show dreading I would spend my savings on the new AK, but left thinking they might be redirected to the Hugo 2.
CABLES
While cables are still trying to find their ground in the Western market, two cable manufactures showed up in London. Effect Audio had most of their lineup on display. Regardless of pricing, all their cables are eye candy, with shimmering wires resulting from their special means of insulation. Their Ares II is an affordable copper cable, that doesn’t quite sound like a traditional copper. It has a slightly brighter and leaner sound, as well as good top-end extension. As a result, it creates a nice clean sound, and is an excellent cable to either pair with warmer iems, or those looking for a slight boost in transparency and separation. The Ares II+ is their warmer and smoother offering, with a more traditional copper sound that suits brighter iems. Their recently released Lionheart cable is a blend of gold-plated and silver-plated copper wires, tuned for timbre over performance. Where silver alloy cables usually have a dip in their upper bass, the Lionheart has a richer and more linear bass that provides that unique OFC tone, although it doesn’t necessarily sound as clean as traditional upgrade cable. Instead, it combines a smooth and organic sound with a modest touch of clarity. Leonidas is one of their most popular models, offering one of my favorite bass responses for a cable. The quantity of the bass is not necessarily enhanced, but it’s a very punchy, hard-hitting bass, due to the clarity of the impact of its bass. Due to a dip in the upper bass, its stage is very clean, and the sound is transparent. It leans towards a reference signature, with excellent separation and a high level of detail, but with a special bass as ‘fun’ element. In addition, they brought a prototype of their new Mars II, again a very beautiful cable to behold. It seemed to combine transparent vocals with a slightly warm and musical sound, but it was difficult for me to compare as it was terminated to a 4.4 plug, and I’m not yet as familiar with that output as I’d like to be.
Labkable was also there with their lineup, including the Samurai III, a relatively neutral and musical sound with good transparency. It shares some resemblance with Leonidas such as a relatively neutral signature and clean stage, but trades the punchy bass for a slightly warmer sound. Pandora offers a more reference sound by means of a brighter tone, yet high resolution and transparency, as well as a punchy mid-bass. But nothing compared to their flagship Titan models, which offered one of the highest resolution I have heard in a cable. As a result of its excellent top-end extension, it provides a remarkably clean sound, with excellent definition. As a result of its clean stage and stable black background, the separation was excellent as well. Titan comes in two models, a pure silver 10-braid, with a brighter but leaner sound that paired well with the Sony WM1Z, or a gold-plated copper and silver hybrid 10-braid, with a more forward mid-bass and warmer tone that paired better with my AK. Unfortunately, with a price tag of over 2K, more expensive than most people can afford, including myself.
Sources used for testing:
A&K RW AK380cu
Sony WM1Z
Iems used for testing:
Westone ES80
64 Audio A18
Warbler Prelude
This year’s Canjam London was my second, and seemed to be a resounding success. An impressive list of manufacturers signed up, which inspired a large crowd to show up. It was pleasantly busy, without feeling crowded.
Smyth Realiser
So I started Saturday off with what, in my opinion, was the highlight of the show: the Smyth Realiser. The Realiser required advanced sign-up, as the technology needs to be calibrated as well as experienced in a secluded room. The Realiser is a fairly new technology designed to recreate the spatial sound coming from a surround sound speaker setup in a particular room. What this basically means, is that the technology allows you to experience sound in a headphone, almost identically as if it were coming from speakers all around and above you. A 3D listening experience if you will, that accomplishes this with an almost scary accuracy. To achieve this experience, the session begins with the insertion of two microphones in the ears. Next, test tones are produced from the speakers to the front and the side, followed by similar measurements with the headphone on.
The result is nothing short of spectacular. After calibration, the tones produced in the headphone (a Stax I believe) seem to come from the speakers you can visually see around you. It’s a fully 3D experience, which mimics the tones actually being produced by the speakers, even when coming from above and behind you. When I heard the tones in the headphones, even fully knowing they where being produced in the headphone, I needed to regularly check whether they weren’t actually coming from the speakers – it works that well. Even when you move your head, the sound cues continuously come from the same direction, as a sensor tracks the motion of your head. While the technology’s main application seems to be geared more towards film, gaming, and virtual reality, the realistic and precise recreation was a pure delight for audio enthusiasts. It provides a whole new meaning to the definition of soundstage, especially in terms of external realism.
IEMS
Over the last year, interesting new technologies have emerged for iems. Shure’s KSE1500 has been around for a while, but more recently Audeze added a lineup of planar iems, while 64 Audio introduced TIA technology in their flagships. Starting off with the Audeze i4, an impressive all-rounder that seemed to do a lot right. Its bass is not only punchy with a very nice quantity leaning towards the fun side of things, the mid-bass is highly resolved as well. Truly a quality bass, both in terms of fun and performance. While its midrange and vocals were lightly warm, smooth, and pleasing, the focus of its upper mids seemed geared towards clarity. The treble in turn displayed an extraordinary performance, sounding articulate, detailed, and very quick – an ethereal feel, that felt like it was offering something different than the traditional BA or DD designs. It had a nice touch of sparkle, and sounded very transparent. In addition, its stage felt spacious in all directions, and its separation was excellent. There was a nice body to the sound, without sounding overly thick. As one remark, the tuning of the upper mids gave me the feeling Audeze was making too hard an effort to position it as a neutral tuning, rather than going for a natural signature in line with their house sound. I would have preferred to see if the upper mids were just slightly warmer, to benefit the coherency of the signature. However, as a whole package, the Audeze i4 is an impressive and unique addition to the upper tier iems, combining both a neutral and fun signature with very special treble.
Much like the i4, 64 Audio’s TIA Fourte has a unique presentation, which sets it aside from the herd. Its dynamic driven bass bares close resemblance to that of two other top tier dynamic drivers, the RE2000 and Dita Dream. A nice rounded feel, but tight, punchy, and a slight decay. Even so, its quantity was fairly neutral. But the Fourte’s speciality is undoubtedly its stage, and the way it creates its air and space. This is partially due to its open TIA drivers, but also its midrange tuning. By creating a leaner body of vocals, the open and three-dimensional stage feels especially large. In addition, the Fourte’s midrange and treble both sound fast, and highly resolved. The result is a unique listening experience, with excellent separation and definition. The Fourte seems to pair better with the WM1Z than my AK, despite a trade-off of performance for a more even presentation in terms of note and vocal size. When compared to the A18, the A18 has larger bass quantity, and a quicker decay. The A18’s stage is wider, although the Fourte’s is deeper, and accordingly more three-dimensional. In addition, the A18 has more body in its midrange, with more forward and larger vocals. While both have excellent resolution, I would give the edge to the Fourte. In sum, the Fourte provides a more unique, hi-fi experience due to its speed, resolution and stage; nevertheless, some might find the A18’s signature more engaging due to its bass and midrange.
In addition, I briefly tested the KSE1500. Shure’s electrostat driver provided possibly the best sub-bass I have heard so far in an iem, being incredibly precise and well-extended, really a bass you can sense driving the rhythm in the background, without ever becoming overpowering. Even so, its overall quantity is fairly neutral, with an emphasis on sub-bass rather than mid-bass. It’s a tight and controlled bass, resulting in a cleaner stage. However, as a result, the signature isn’t particularly warm, although its timbre was nevertheless fairly accurate. The midrange itself is tuned with a 3 KHz bump, which seems to be a close reflection of the ideal Harmon curve. By specifically bumping the 3 KHz range, it creates a slightly forward but leaner vocal presentation. Personally, I prefer a wider 2-3 KHz bump, resulting in a larger, denser, and what I personally consider, a more engaging vocal reproduction; a tuning that many ‘traditional’ BA flagships opt for. But one might argue that this is preference, shaped by my personal reference points.
Dunu has established their name by bringing quality sound to a wide audience due to their affordable pricing, and have recently started looking upwards. The DN-2000j provided a high level of detail with a brighter tuning, but their new 3+1 hybrid flagship DK-3001 provides a more serious tuning with nice body in its sound and a fairly neutral signature, as well as a bodied bass down below from its single dynamic driver. The DN-2002 on the other hand is their smoother offering in a 2+2 hybrid configuration, which provides a warmer sound at the cost of some of its transparency and detail compared to the DK-3001.
Westone’s new flagship ciem, the ES80, is a precise monitor that creates a clean and highly resolved sound by means of its excellent top-end extension, combined with a smooth and warm albeit somewhat leaner sound. Westone has been always known for their warm and smooth house sound, so I was equally curious to their universal flagship, the W80 that uses similar drivers. The W80 has a beautiful vocal reproduction, full-bodied with a pleasing warm tone. In addition, its low-end provides a nice bit of power and warmth to the signature. Even so, the upper midrange and treble is surprisingly clear and closer to neutral, rather than being overpowered by the warmth of the bass. While the W80 has an easy-going signature, the upper mid tuning gives the W80 a nice musical touch, and I found it quite enjoyable.
Empire Ears brought along a few prototypes, which were variations of a similar driver configuration. The prototype seemed to be tuned with a traditional 1-3 KHz bump in its midrange, providing Empire Ears’ trademark vocal performance reminiscent of Zeus-XIV. Vocals sounded clear with good transparency, while a lift in its treble provided a touch of sparkle, as well as an overall fairly neutral tuning in terms of tone. However, these particular models differentiated themselves from the previous Empire Ears’ lineup by means of their powerful and full-bodied bass. As a result, the prototype combined a versatile signature, with an engaging low-end. Between the two models, one sounded more neutral and clear, while the other seemed a bit warmer and smoother.
Finally, the Beyerdynamic Xelento was a nice surprise as a single dynamic driver combining a natural signature with nice dynamic driven bass. While its bass was punchy with a very nice quantity, the bass never overpowered the signature. The midrange was warm, and seemed to be tuned with an upper mid dip followed by a lower treble dip. It’s a tuning that provides a nice touch of clarity and sparkle, yet with a natural sound. It kind of reminded me of a DD version of Lime Ears Aether. A nice option for a solid all-rounder in this price range, that’s very easy to listen to.
SOURCES
Quite frankly, I found the sources I listened to a bit disappointing. Nothing wrong with their performance or value, but the Shanling M5, QPR2, and Fiio X7II all seem to prioritize clarity first, with varying degrees of (light) warmth in the midrange, but mostly clear-sounding upper midranges, and variations of brightness in their treble. While none sounded bright or harsh by any means, there was a general trend of opting for a more neutral sound in favor of timbre and naturalness. Of those daps, iBasso’s DX200 impressed me most. While it was still tuned with a predominantly neutral signature, it had the most coherent signature to my ears, with a signature that simply worked very well together. There was a harmonious tone throughout the mids and treble, and what it did good, it did very well. Despite the sound having good body, the stage was very clean, and its separation good. A solid offering in its price range, providing a neutral but musical signature with good performance.
And as an avid AK fan, my main interest went out to the new A&K Ultima SS - a beautiful player to behold, while being fast and responsive. The AK380 has long held the perfect balance between timbre and performance, combined with a beautiful large stage. The new Ultima improves in performance, with greater resolution and transparency, as well as a more powerful bass. In addition, the midrange has a good deal more body and forwardness, creating an overall fuller sound, similar to my own RW modified unit. In addition, there is a good deal of depth in its stage, and both its separation and imaging seemed precise. However, the Ultima SS also seemed to follow the trend of clarity over timbre, while there seemed to be a trace of incoherency in the upper mids. The Ultima offers top tier performance one might expect, but I wasn’t convinced the improved performance outweighed the naturalness and tone of my own. Possibly, their Copper version will provide an alternative sound.
I pondered briefly over this general trend, and the only right conclusion seemed that apparently both manufacturers and consumers seemed to prefer this type of tuning. A logic that seemed to be countered by the success of Chord’s Mojo, which was tuned with a warmer and thicker sound. Of course, it might just have been my limited sample, and I am spoiled with my own daps. I was however positively surprised by two dac/amp systems. The first being a newly developed amp that will soon launch on Indiegogo: the Kuos RealAmp. The amp was still in prototype phase, but pictures projecting its upcoming look revealed it will likely turn out to be a beauty. Most importantly, its tone was very pleasing, what I would describe as ‘beautifully neutral’. Relatively neutral, but lightly warm and smooth, as well a musical touch in its upper mids. A coherent signature that was just very easy to listen to, and seemed to provide a versatile signature that I could see more people liking than disliking. While its stage wasn’t particularly wide, it added a nice amount of depth, even to monitors that seemed to lack depth in the first place. So while the stage leaned towards intimate, it nevertheless had a three-dimensional feel due to its depth and layering ability.
But the greatest surprise of the show for me, was the Chord Hugo 2. The original Hugo was widely praised, although some people felt its signature was slightly too neutral, and somewhat void of warmth. For some people it could feel a bit sterile, for instance when compared to the warmer Mojo. While Chord kept the excellent technical performance in terms of its three-dimensional stage, resolution, and transparency, they added just a touch of warmth to its signature. Mind you, the Hugo 2 isn’t warm enough to be predominantly classified as such; but the tuning adds an essential smoothness and musicality to the sound. Based on the brief session its signature seemed comparable to Kuos RealAmp, although they differed in stage and performance. But again, what I would describe as ‘beautifully neutral’: a relatively neutral tone and clean sound, yet with an overall smooth and musical signature. The quality ran throughout its presentation, from its resolved mid-bass, to the coherent midrange, and up to its refined treble presentation – a worthy alternative to my warmer Sony and AK. I went to the show dreading I would spend my savings on the new AK, but left thinking they might be redirected to the Hugo 2.
CABLES
While cables are still trying to find their ground in the Western market, two cable manufactures showed up in London. Effect Audio had most of their lineup on display. Regardless of pricing, all their cables are eye candy, with shimmering wires resulting from their special means of insulation. Their Ares II is an affordable copper cable, that doesn’t quite sound like a traditional copper. It has a slightly brighter and leaner sound, as well as good top-end extension. As a result, it creates a nice clean sound, and is an excellent cable to either pair with warmer iems, or those looking for a slight boost in transparency and separation. The Ares II+ is their warmer and smoother offering, with a more traditional copper sound that suits brighter iems. Their recently released Lionheart cable is a blend of gold-plated and silver-plated copper wires, tuned for timbre over performance. Where silver alloy cables usually have a dip in their upper bass, the Lionheart has a richer and more linear bass that provides that unique OFC tone, although it doesn’t necessarily sound as clean as traditional upgrade cable. Instead, it combines a smooth and organic sound with a modest touch of clarity. Leonidas is one of their most popular models, offering one of my favorite bass responses for a cable. The quantity of the bass is not necessarily enhanced, but it’s a very punchy, hard-hitting bass, due to the clarity of the impact of its bass. Due to a dip in the upper bass, its stage is very clean, and the sound is transparent. It leans towards a reference signature, with excellent separation and a high level of detail, but with a special bass as ‘fun’ element. In addition, they brought a prototype of their new Mars II, again a very beautiful cable to behold. It seemed to combine transparent vocals with a slightly warm and musical sound, but it was difficult for me to compare as it was terminated to a 4.4 plug, and I’m not yet as familiar with that output as I’d like to be.
Labkable was also there with their lineup, including the Samurai III, a relatively neutral and musical sound with good transparency. It shares some resemblance with Leonidas such as a relatively neutral signature and clean stage, but trades the punchy bass for a slightly warmer sound. Pandora offers a more reference sound by means of a brighter tone, yet high resolution and transparency, as well as a punchy mid-bass. But nothing compared to their flagship Titan models, which offered one of the highest resolution I have heard in a cable. As a result of its excellent top-end extension, it provides a remarkably clean sound, with excellent definition. As a result of its clean stage and stable black background, the separation was excellent as well. Titan comes in two models, a pure silver 10-braid, with a brighter but leaner sound that paired well with the Sony WM1Z, or a gold-plated copper and silver hybrid 10-braid, with a more forward mid-bass and warmer tone that paired better with my AK. Unfortunately, with a price tag of over 2K, more expensive than most people can afford, including myself.
Sources used for testing:
A&K RW AK380cu
Sony WM1Z
Iems used for testing:
Westone ES80
64 Audio A18
Warbler Prelude
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